Issue 505 – New £9million sports complex planned

A NEW swimming pool and sports centre could be built in Melksham as part of plans put forward by Wiltshire Council. The complex would be “almost certainly” built next to the new Melksham Oak Community School, in the form of a campus. Both Melksham’s Blue Pool and Christie Miller Sports Centre at Bowerhill would be closed down.

The suggested plans are part of a radical shake-up of leisure services across the county. The move would see Christie Miller's well-used indoor bowls facility move to Leighton Recreation Centre in Westbury. The plans are subject to public consultation, but if they go ahead, both the Blue Pool and Christie Miller will be replaced by the new facilities by 2014.
According to a cabinet paper, which is due to be discussed by Wiltshire Council's cabinet members on 27th July, a budgetary provision of £9,815,000 has been allocated for building replacement facilities in Melksham.
£150,000 has been budgeted for the maintenance of the Melksham Blue Pool until its planned closure in 2013, with £990,000 budgeted for the maintenance of Christie Miller before its planned closure at the same time.
If the Blue Pool were to stay open, the report estimates that Wiltshire Council would need to budget £2,680,000 over the next 25 years just to maintain the facility's current standards. Similarly, it projects that £9,325,000 would be needed for Christie Miller Sports Centre over the next 25 years.
The report says, "Due to the age and condition of the current stock there are high risks to the council relating to health and safety and business continuity if the council does not invest in the facilities. As an example, Christie Miller Sports Centre in Melksham requires capital investment of £5.9 million for essential repairs in the next four years."
Wiltshire Council's cabinet member for leisure, sport and culture, councillor Stuart Wheeler told Melksham News, "The public consultation will run from 2nd August to 29th October. I would like to emphasis that Christie Miller and Melksham Blue Pool will not be closing until there are proper replacements at Melksham Oak.
"I don't want people to think 'great, they are going to build something wonderful in two years but close everything now' because that's not going to happen.
"Christie Miller's maintenance costs looking forward are absolutely unbelievable. The idea with the indoor bowls facility is to move it to Leighton Recreation Centre in Westbury. I think it should be an ideal home for it. If you look at the usage for the facility, people come from a very wide area.
"My officers have worked jolly hard on this and have done a heck of a lot of work. We inherited 23 centres a year ago in various states of repair and disrepair, and to keep them going for another five years would just be putting it off, and Christie Miller is a classic example."
Councillor Jonathon Seed, chairman of the Melksham Area Board commented, “This is fantastic news for Melksham. At a time of austerity and cuts at both a national and local level, for the Melksham community area to be given such a massive financial capital boost for state-of-the-art leisure facilities by the Conservative administration of Wiltshire Council is tremendously good news.
"There is also a clear commitment for investment in the maintenance of the existing Melksham leisure facilities until the new leisure facilities are open. What we now need is for the people and politicians of Melksham to support and help the council in the delivery of these very welcome new leisure facilities. I am delighted that Melksham is spearheading this exciting and ambitious Wiltshire Council leisure project."
Melksham's mayor, councillor Rod Eaton added, "The current spread of such services across various buildings represents inefficiencies in resource utilisation. As I understand it, new facilities are likely to replace the existing ones for swimming, gym etc. The rationalised service campus will be a real initiative to meet the needs of Melksham and the surrounding area, as identified in the recent consultation.
"We shall be pressing on the Melksham Area Board and the town council for the best facilities for the people of Melksham to meet their leisure needs. Any change will mean a compromise for a few but once the proposals are firmed up, we can scrutinise these to ensure that the best value for money deal is on offer to the majority of people of the town and the surrounding area."
As well as committing funds to build a new indoor leisure centre and indoor swimming pool, Wiltshire Council has also committed to a grant of £400 000 to the Wiltshire School of Gymnastics in Bowerhill.
Elsewhere in the county, Wiltshire Council is looking to transfer seven of its leisure centres into community partnership.